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In the Financial Times of 10/4/10 1. Profit recovery in the US: Profit share of GDP postwar peak was 14.7 percent in 1951; low at 5.5% in 1986 [which interestingly enough corresponds to a decline in oil prices]; 2006 reached its psot 2001-2003 recovery peak at 13.6%, declining to 9.3% in 2008, 2009 [severe recession, but not quite as severe on profits as it was on output]. And in 2010, the profits share is back up to 12.3% Profits as a percentage share of the total amounts of "profit plus wages." WW2 peak at 25%; 2006 26.6%; 2010 25.8%. "Outside the 1930s there is nothing to compare with the rate of climb of profit share 2001-2006." And there is nothing to compare to the rebound of the last 18 months. __________ Makes you wonder what the bourgeoisie are complaining about... not much really. WHY they are complaining is another story. The why is about increasing profit, offsetting the offsetting tendency of profits to decline. Why is because they are the bourgeoisie, that's what they do-- particularly driving the petty-bourgeois up against the anvil of private property so they can smash them, actually mold them into a battering ram with the hammer of debt against workers, against wages, against the last shreds of social reproduction. _________ 2. Recovery of North Sea oil production in the UK sector-- high prices made people "suddently realize you can make money with a 20 million or 30 million barrel field." "A decade ago when oil prices weren't so good, lots of majors went off to West Africa or Brazil....." [leaving behind their infrastructure which required massive recapitalization, prompting the majors to cut their lines, leaving oil fields with up to 50% of there reserves intact] "But the reward is still there. Now if you find 50 million barrels there's enough infrastructure to make it economic." The article reports UK NSea production in 2009 at 2.3 million barrels of oil equivalent a day-- which seems extremently high to me, as the OECD's International Energy Agency reports production at around 1.4 million boe/day. Anyway, the resurgence has been marked by a major new find-- the Catcher field of 300 million barrels in an areas presumed to have already been pumped out by the majors. And the North Sea area west of the Shetland Islands, where the UK estimates two billion barrels are recoverable has yet to be developed. _________ The reward of course being the "rent" contained in the price of oil to offset the decline in the rate of profit brought about by the intense, and massive proportion of fixed and constant capital required in production. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
